Artists are just children who refuse to put down their crayons. -Al Hirshfeld
I'm a writer, artist, cartoonist, director, animator, producer, paper engineer, lecturer and competitive duck herder. I threw in the last one to see if you would make it to the end of the sentence.
Dino coloring/story book
I partnered with my friend Scott Emmons to illustrate a dinosaur coloring/story book. We ask the questions: What did dinosaurs look like and what did they do? Dance? Jump cannonballs into the water?
Paleontologists are still sifting through the data.
If you’d like to learn more, visit his Brainytops website and check out the other books Scott has to offer.
Animation
In the 1980’s I was giving talks to grade school students about creativity and how to make flip books.
I thought I would spend my spare time making an animated film that would inspire the young audience.
A mere 14 years later I finished BOING.
It shows that there is no “right” way to draw and that you can bring any character to life.
Paper mechanic cards
A successful pop up card uses range and motion to emphasize the sentiment. In this case, I wanted to make the cat’s eyes open wide and the tongue stick out. After much measuring and cutting out many prototypes, we came up with the final design.
The hardest part was figuring out how to spell the sound of a choking cat.
Mechanic cards with sound
This high tech card uses battery powered motors and sound chips. It took many skillful specialists from different disciplines (editorial, design, paper engineering, tech design) to pull this off.
Worth it.
Videos
Years ago I would use a Super 8 movie camera to record events and play with stop motion animation. When Lauren asked me to make a video of her wedding and reception, I had to up my game and purchase the Adobe Creative 6 Suite.
My good friend David Albright videotaped the event. He is a professional videographer and knows Lauren well. They discussed moments she wanted to capture. He was well prepared to catch the unexpected surprises that inevitably occur.
After weeks of struggling to learn Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition and Encore I was able to put this together.
